Posts Tagged ‘Jewish Jerusalem’

Part of an enormous Old City of Jerusalem hospital building dating to the Crusader period from the years 1099-1291 has been revealed to the public following excavations and research by the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Records show that the Christians provided Jewish patients with kosher food. The building, owned by the Muslim Waqf religious authority, is situated in the heart of the Christian Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem, in a region known as “Muristan,” a corruption of the Persian word for hospital. It is located near David Street, the main road in the Old City.

Until a decade or so ago the building served as a bustling and crowded fruit and vegetable market. Since then it stood there desolate until the Grand Bazaar Company said it wanted to renovate the market as a restaurant, when the Israel Antiquities Authority began to conduct archaeological soundings there.

The structure, only a small part of which was exposed in the excavation, seems to extend across an enormous area of nearly four acres.

Its construction is characterized by massive pillars and ribbed vaults and it stands more than 19 feet high, suggesting an image of a great hall composed of pillars, rooms and smaller halls.

Excavation directors Renee Forestany and Amit Re’em said, “We’ve learned about the hospital from contemporary historical documents, most of which are written in Latin. These mention a sophisticated hospital that is as large and as organized as a modern hospital. The hospital was established and constructed by a Christian military order named the ‘Order of St. John of the Hospital in Jerusalem’ and known by its Latin name the Hospitallers (from the word hospital). These righteous warriors took an oath to care for and watch over pilgrims, and when necessary they joined the ranks of the fighters as an elite unit.”

The hospital was comprised of different wings and departments according to the nature of the illness and the condition of the patient – similar to a modern hospital. In an emergency situation the hospital could accept as many as 2,000 patients.

The Hospitallers treated sick men and women of different religions. There is information about Crusaders who ensured their Jewish patients received kosher food. All that notwithstanding, they were completely ignorant in all aspects of medicine and sanitation: an eyewitness of the period reports that a Crusader doctor amputated the leg of a warrior just because he had a small infected wound. Needless to say, the patient died.

The Muslim Arab population was instrumental in assisting the Crusaders in establishing the hospital and teaching them medicine.

The size of the hospital can be learned from contemporary documents, one of which recounts an incident about a staff member who was irresponsible in the performance of his work in the hospital. That person was marched alongside the building awhile, and the rest of the staff, with whips in hand, formed a line behind him and beat him. This spectacle was witnessed by all of the patients.

The Ayyubid ruler Saladin lived near the hospital following the defeat of the Crusaders, and he also renovated and maintained the structure. He permitted ten Crusader monks to continue to reside there and serve the population of Jerusalem.

The building collapsed in an earthquake that struck in 1457 CE and was buried beneath its ruins, which is how it remained until the Ottoman period. In the Middle Ages parts of the structure were used as a stable and the bones of horses and camels were found in excavations, alongside an enormous amount of metal that was used in shoeing the animals.

According to Monser Shwieki, the project manager, “The magnificent building will be integrated in a restaurant slated to be constructed there, and its patrons will be impressed by the enchanting atmosphere of the Middle Ages that prevails there.”

Yishai presents exclusive audio from the 19th Annual Tisha B’Av walk around the Old City Walls. Interviewees include Deputy Foreign Minister Ze’ev Elkin, Professor Aryeh Eldad, Dominican Friar and Yishai’s friend Erik Ross, Director of the Israel Land Fund Aryeh King, and many more! Listen in and get inspired!

Explore the City of David with Meir Eisenman and his life changing historic tours. Eisenman discusses his personal connection to the city (his family has been in Jerusalem for over 200 years!) and leads listeners on a tour through the city. Listen in and be inspired to come experience this walk through the footsteps of our forefathers!

Yishai and Malkah kick off by discussing Yishai’s visit to the annual Yisrael Beiteinu meeting in Jerusalem and how he decided to take public transportation in order to avoid the ever-rising gas prices in Israel. Yishai talks about his day spent in Jerusalem and how he had gained insight by going to an event for Chai Elul, the 18th day of the month of Elul, hosted at a known Shul in Jerusaelm. They move on and end the segment by talking about how Jewish exile is rapidly ending with the last remaining Synagogue in Egypt canceling High Holiday services for “security reasons”.

Just 15 miles to the north of Jerusalem, the Jewish effort to return to the biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria (Yesha) suffered a severe blow this week – or did it?

The neighborhood of Givat HaUlpena in Beit El was emptied of 33 Jewish families – the result of government fear of international opinion, Peace Now hatred of Jewish settlement in Yesha, and animosity on the part of the Israeli legal apparatus. The homes, built on or near the same hilltop on which the Patriarch Jacob dreamed of angels ascending to the heavens, are likely to be dismantled, while the land will remain desolate and unused. Clearly a step backward in the Jewish people’s return home to Eretz Yisrael.

Or is it? Prime Minister Netanyahu, anxious not to see the type of injurious violence against young Land of Israel lovers that typified the destruction of homes in Amona six years ago, offered the residents a deal: I’m planning to destroy the homes no matter what, with thousands of policemen and soldiers and whatever else it takes. However, if you leave peacefully, without threatening violence, I’m willing to also build 300 homes in Beit El, unfreeze another 551 in other areas of Judea and Samaria, establish a ministerial committee that will greatly neutralize Ehud Barak’s authority, and so on. What do you say?

After over a week of negotiations in which the government concretized the construction plans, including maps and dates, the town of Beit El agreed: No violence.

The 300 units in Beit El have already received government approval.

Considering that the settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria has suffered many, many blows in its nearly 40 years, and considering that in 1983 there were 23,000 Jews in Yesha, 114,000 in 1993, 220,000 in 2002, and 346,000 today (not including Jerusalem) – the Land of Israel faithful seem to be skipping from one HaUlpena-type “defeat” to the next, all the way to final victory.

Legal Expert: Jerusalem is Jewish

International law expert Dr. Jacques P. Gauthier of Canada – a non-Jew – has devoted most of his adult life to researching and disseminating his categorical conclusion that “Jerusalem is Jewish under international law.”

His doctoral thesis on the topic is one of the heaviest books most people have ever seen: 1,300 pages, with 3,200 footnotes. It details how the world community of nations granted the Jewish people irrevocable legal rights to Yerushalayim in an unbroken series of treaties and resolutions: The Balfour Declaration, the San Remo Conference of 1920, and affirmations by other world bodies such as the UN.

Dr. Gauthier delivered his most recent presentation at a conference this month sponsored by the AIJJ (Alliance for International Justice in Jerusalem) in the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. Among the speakers was Keep Jerusalem/Im Eshkachech President Chaim Silberstein, who spoke compellingly about the negative practical implications of a divided Jerusalem.

Dr. Gauthier explained that San Remo, where the four main European victors of World War I convened to draw up the Middle East’s new borders, is truly the cornerstone of Jewish rights to Jerusalem. Clearly very personally connected with his work, he explained how he received rare photos of the event and painstakingly figured out who participated and where precisely each one sat. He was even able to obtain detailed minutes of the proceedings, apparently no easy feat.

What precisely was resolved at San Remo? Among other things, that a Jewish state should be established in western Palestine – i.e., the area west of the Jordan River. The text indicates that while the Jews were to receive a state, the Arabs were to have only their “civil and religious rights” safeguarded – clearly indicating no political or national rights there.

As such, all claims that the Arabs deserve a state in Judea, Samaria and Gaza are groundless. For, as Dr. Gauthier repeats at every opportunity, the legal principle of “la chose jugée” (judged issue) means that once the issue was decided, as it was in San Remo, the Supreme Council, the League of Nations, and the UN, the decision becomes irreversible and forever binding in a “sacred trust.”

Discerning readers might notice that the Balfour Declaration and San Remo do not specifically mention Jerusalem. But they also do not mention Tel Aviv, Haifa or any other Israeli city – for it is clearly understood that sovereignty in a given area includes the cities and towns thereof. Only in 1947 did an official UN call emanate for Jerusalem’s internationalization; but as stated above, the UN had no mandate to do this in contravention of the previously-passed resolutions.

Managing Editor of Jewish Press Online, Yishai Fleisher, along with his wife and co-host Malkah, talk about recent outing to the Jerusalem Light Festival. Yishai talks about how there are so many Jewish themes that could have been presented at the festival rather than what was chosen. Lashon hara against the Land of Israel is brought up and the segment concludes with a discussion of the plethora of ethic clothing available for religious women in today’s world.